In 2005 the AT&T legal office provided a form for people who refuse to pay the phone tax. We still suggest that people having problems with AT&T send them this form as a reminder of their own policy. Download a PDF of the AT&T form here. Download another PDF of a sample letter that AT&T sent a telephone war tax resister in 2002.
2011
After the experience below the tax suddenly disappeared from our bill. We’re not asking why….
Feb. 2010
At the NWTRCC office the refused tax was being added up as a past due amount, despite various letters and phone calls to them, and had reached about $26 when a letter came from AT&T threatening to cut off the service if it was not paid. So a call was made to the AT&T contact number, but the person at AT&T never heard of refusing the federal tax. A fax number was taken and the following documents faxed to AT&T: the IRS regulation on the phone company’s responsibility to turn the information over to the IRS but not to enforce collection; an AT&T letter from some years back giving “war tax” as a reason why some might not pay the tax; and a letter that Verizon had once issued showing their understanding of federal excise tax refusal.
There was no response for more than a month, generating occasional concern that one day the service would be cut off. Then the most recent bill arrived. It included a $26 credit! Success! We’ll see how things go in the future, but we should be out of danger for some months to come now.
Aug. 2010
Unfortunately, I also have AT&T as it is what’s available here. They may be an evil nuke supporting corporation, but they are great about dealing with phone tax. Once you get signed up they automatically credit the previous months tax each month. I no longer send any letter, but I write “No War Tax” in big red letters on the payment stub, check & envelope. I don’t remember how I got registered with them as a resister, but it was easy. I think it was a phone call.
I have not heard from the IRS concerning phone tax since 1999 and it was telling me I owed $5.50. At the time I owed about $700 in phone tax. I used to get 2 or 3 letters/year, but never for more than $25.
—L.H., California
